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Guide to Executive Recruiters and Headhunters

When Monster.com isn't enough, hire a human scout
By Ned Averill-Snell

OK, so nearly everybody who needs a new executive these days starts the same place: Monster.com. That's not always the best option. Enlisting the aid of an executive recruiter offers some important advantages to small companies, including access to top talent that shuns the recruiting sites, expert consultation on defining positions and selecting candidates, an active hunt for prospects, and a human being who's accountable if you're not happy with the results.

There are two basic types of recruiters:

1. Retainer firms are paid monthly while they search for candidates, for however long it takes you to hire somebody. These are the big guns that specialize in talent drawing salaries above $75,000. They're the top choice for access to the primo prospects (often they will have exclusive rights to each job seeker they represent) but they also put the most of your money on the line.
2. Contingency firms handle any type of job but are most often used to find junior and midlevel candidates for positions paying below $75,000.You pay only when you hire candidates that they recommend. Typically, contingency firms charge a single fee based on the new employee's annual salary (usually one-third of that amount). Though potentially cheaper, contingency firms have limited expense budgets (so they may never fly out to meet you or your interviewees), and rarely have exclusive rights to candidates.

Action Steps

The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Define your needs Take the time to carefully define who you need before you start looking.

I recommend:  Consult the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics' handy rundown of responsibilities associated with each executive's role. Review sample executive job descriptions at HR.BLR.com. Review some common hiring mistakes on Chally International's Web site. And visit online job sites — for instance, The Wall Street Journal's CareerJournal site, which posts professional and executive-level positions — to see how your colleagues and competitors are defining their executive roles.

Find an executive recruiter In most markets you'll have plenty of recruiters to choose among, and their business has slacked off in recent years. You can afford to be choosy.

I recommend:  Start with the members directory of the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC), which helps ensure a quality membership by promoting a code of ethics and conduct. Search the Career Portal Online Recruiters Directory, which enables you to find recruiters by industry, type (contingency or retained), and keyword, or check out SearchFirm.com. The Lucas Group offers tips for choosing a recruiter (one key: ask if the recruiter who will be assigned to you has searched for similar positions in your industry before).

Explore other recruiting options Assuming you're not completely sold on hiring a recruiter, here are other options to explore.

I recommend:  It's likely you already know about Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com, the two largest online job sites. Even if you decide not to use them, they both offer a trove of free information to help you define your needs and select the best candidates. Check out the Web sites of your industry's professional and trade associations, which often have targeted job postings.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• Attend local association meetings and industry trade events — you'll often find headhunters specializing in your industry cruising there.
• Do a Google search on a candidate you're considering. It's not a full background check, but you may learn something that can help guide your choices.
• Look first at internal candidates. Hiring from within is smart for a host of reasons. Maybe you're overlooking someone.
• Post-mortem your hires. A year later, look at your new executive and review how he/she was hired. Could a different hiring approach have yielded a better executive?